Nestled in a residential neighborhood of Sherman Oaks, CA is the newest community gem. Celebrating its one-year anniversary, M Street Coffee is already teeming with a devoted clientele. Even in a reclining economy, business owner Andrea McClain confides that the New Year is already off to a great start.

So what’s the secret? How did a 31-year-old harp player from Indiana manage to get it so right? First and foremost, she’ll admit it’s a commitment to a quality product. Offering organic fare, they also feature an exclusive custom roast of organic Indonesian and South American Beans, roasted in the nearby North Hollywood neighborhood. Dedicated to making incredible coffee it’s not unusual to catch even a Starbucks employee grabbing a cup before they head off to work.

But it’s something almost intangible that permeates from this tiny corner location. There’s a real community blossoming in this sunny café as the manager behind the counter chats with every customer and McClain interrupts our interview to greet a regular.

It probably has to do with McClain spending her childhood in a small town of less than 20,000 people. Realizing that community and business are inseparable, she has defined her space as being more than just a profit-turner. Like your favorite transformer that you secretly stole from your brother, this café morphs into many identities. Part art gallery, concert venue, and town hall, there’s a little something for everyone. Plus McClain isn’t afraid to give back either, offering her space for fundraisers such as children’s organizations, animal shelters, and a Save Darfur Charity art sale.

And don’t be worried; she doesn’t leave out Mother Earth. Doing her best to keep the shop eco-friendly, McClain has a strong recycling program, not to mention biodegradable cups and recycled paper sleeves.

Despite being the sole owner of M Street Coffee and performing every duty personally, including website design, book keeping, coffee brewing, and coordinating all the community events, Andrea is quick to admit, “It really takes a good team.” It takes all her employees to truly embrace what could be overlooked as a ‘simple’ vision of “Be[ing] a bright spot in someone’s day and to serve a great cup of coffee.”

Andrea McClain offers hope that small businesses can survive even as mega-corporations come crashing down all around us. It takes more than fancy business degrees and stock portfolios. By remaining true to herself and focusing her energies on promoting the things she loves instead of just the bottom line, Andrea has created an atmosphere that is both welcoming and familiar. As I look around and every table is occupied, including the patio tables outside, I guess she’s proof that “If you build it, they will come.”

Check her out at www.mstreetcoffee.com

photos courtesy of andrea mcclain

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Artist Aaron Johnson offers a scintillating and titillating peephole into the filthy love affair of church and state with his latest show, Star Crossed, at the Stefan Stux Gallery in New York City. Frustrated by the challenge of making a direct statement through the subtleties of his previous artwork, he set out to boldly proclaim his dissatisfaction with the current political climate.

Johnson’s aim is true as he spears the heart of the traditional American myth, revealing gritty undertones of secret political lust. Startling and disturbing in content, yet strangely appealing with bright colors and plastic-y sheen, his work effects like a moth to a flame. It’s nearly impossible to tear your eyes away from the shocking images of a bloody and vindictive Christ brutally defiling an eager Lady Liberty, a clownish Uncle Sam parading on his hog-tied camel, or a demonic yet haloed George W. seasoning his ghoulish dinner with the Crucifix and the Statue of Liberty.

It takes a moment for the viewer’s eyes to manage to focus on the most controversial element of all: each of these images is clinging to an actual American Flag stretched as its canvas. This brings us to the heart of this provocative exhibit, the very fabric of which it is made. To some, defiling a flag is an inexcusable act, but as an icon in the greater world around us it has come to represent a shameful savagery wreaked clumsily by President Bush, a man who claims to be led by God. Johnson merely turns on the floodlights, exposing the stains, the flaws weaving in and out of the conscious and unconscious American identity.

A surprisingly poignant undertow pulls beneath the glaring accusations, a longing for the mythical promise of “truth, justice, and the American way” meaning something honest and pure. Appropriately timed before the most highly anticipated presidential election, I wonder if patriotism is anything more than a buzzword on a soapbox. Is it merely a waking dream, ethereal and intangible, a trick of smoke and mirrors? Or is everyone who is born on American soil, under so many stars and stripes, a patriot by default? And each American a canvas whose opinions, beliefs, triumphs and failures all splatter across our collective union, swirling and bleeding together until the original is obliterated? Perhaps the real melting pot is not a melting pot at all, but rather more like Johnson’s abstract pieces: a dynamic explosion of life’s fluids resulting in a metaphoric Big Bang that leaves us like so much flotsam waiting to reform into something new and wonderful.

As I ponder this, it becomes clear that though the title of the show Star Crossed, is less about an affair between church and state and more about the meaning of the physical stars and stripes. Referencing Romeo and Juliet, the star-crossed lovers could very well be the American people and their motherland; doomed to be separated by the greed of corporate lobbyists and overreaching politicians. With our current status and history it would certainly be easier to drink the poison and put America out of her misery, laying her out with a lover’s kiss.  However, the sins of our fathers will not be so easily eradicated. We must boldly look into the eye of our gluttony and obscenity and choose to change. Our nation is lucky to have artists like Aaron Johnson, who illuminate such notions and challenge popular believe.

Check out Aaron Johnson and his revolutionary technique “reverse-painted acrylic polymer peel painting” at www.aaronjohnsonart.com

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